Austin Cowles was living
in New York in 1830, when he and his family joined the church. By
1839 the Cowles family, including Austin’s daughter Elvira, were living
in Nauvoo, where Austin was soon selected to be a counselor in the Stake
Presidency.

In the spring of 1840
Elvira secured work in the home of Joseph Smith, perhaps as a nanny and
a maid. There Elvira would become friends with several other women
who would also become wives of Joseph: Emily and Eliza Partridge, Lucy
Walker, Eliza R. Snow and Desmodona Fuller. Elvira would also meet
Jonathon Holmes, a long time friend of Joseph Smith’s. In September
1842, Elvira and Jonathon became engaged. Joseph Smith performed
their wedding ceremony a few months later, and Elvira moved out of the
Smith home. In honor of the new couple, Eliza R. Snow penned:

Conjugal, To Jonathan
& Elvira.

Like two streams,
whose gentle forcesMingling, in one
current blend-Like two waves,
whose onward courseTo the ocean’s
bosom tend-

Like two rays that
kiss each otherIn the presence
of the sun-Like two drops
that run togetherAnd forever are
but one,

In June 1843, six months
after her marriage to Jonathan, Elvira married Joseph Smith. It is
unclear if Jonathan was aware of the marriage, however he would know by
1846. As the Nauvoo temple neared completion, Joseph’s wives would
re-perform their marriages, or sealings, to him within its walls.
Since Joseph had been killed in 1844, Jonathan would stand proxy as Elvira
was sealed to Joseph for eternity. Jonathan would be Elvira’s earthly
companion, eventually surrendering Elvira and their children to Joseph
Smith in the eternities. Many years later, as she lay sick and dying,
Jonathan would ask Elvira, “what reports she would give to the Prophet
Joseph. She replied, ‘Only the best report. You have always been a kind
and devoted husband and father.’”

Elvira’s father, Austin,
opposed polygamy and resigned as counselor in the Stake Presidency,
He also helped write the Nauvoo Expositor which revealed the secret practice,
but Elvira continued to love him: “[He spent] a long life in making
the world better, an example to all who knew him, with charity for all
and malice toward none.”